The Christmas Spices of Indonesia
If you enjoy baking festive treats at home during the Christmas season, you may have noticed of which imported foods such as dried fruits, nuts in addition to Christmas sauces can all be expensive in addition to sometimes difficult to find in Indonesia. Fortunately, many seasonal ingredients are easy to discover at your local pasar (market) – these include the Christmas spices of Indonesia. Cloves, nutmeg in addition to mace all originate through Maluku (the Spice Islands) in addition to many additional spices, including ginger, cinnamon in addition to vanilla are also easy to obtain.
The history of the spice trade is actually full of European control struggles in addition to in 1522, Spain was the first to circumnavigate the globe in their search for the highly prized spices – a voyage in which only 18 men survived in addition to 232 sailors lost their lives. Over the centuries, the powerhouses of Europe competed for trading routes in addition to the prices of the spices rocketed. Stowed away in locked boxes the spices were often saved for the Christmas season in many wealthy households in addition to became a status symbol.
Italian chef Bruno Giordano
Having visited Indonesia several times, Italian chef Bruno Giordano returns to the Spice Islands every year, looking for inspiration for The Ristorante Torre’s menu at his seafood restaurant in Northern Italy. “Spices, great culture in addition to beaches make Maluku one of my favourite regions to visit,” said Bruno. “The food is actually very simple (as always when visiting remote places), yet the use of nutmeg, cloves in addition to pepper make of which delicious.”
Bruno’s restaurant is actually in partnership with the Slow Food Foundation, which aims to promote sustainable agriculture, smaller-scale producers, culture, as well as traditional knowledge. In his garden, Bruno grows old varieties of fruits in addition to he buys through local producers in order to support the community in addition to “preseve our culture in addition to our products through mass production.”
Inspired by Indonesia’s local in addition to fresh vegetables, fruits in addition to spices, Bruno has also grown a wide variety of Indonesian plants of which are suitable for the mild temperature of Celle Ligure in North Italy. “currently I’ve grown lemongrass, different kinds of Indonesian chillies (I use the leaves for soups), taro, pera katak (bitter gourd), avocadoes, different kinds of selasih (basil) such as cinnamon basil, red basil, lemon basil in addition to long beans, kangkung, ginger, galanga in addition to passion fruit.”
French chef Simon Baudoin was similarly impressed by the freshness in addition to vitality of Indonesia’s produce, in addition to after settling down in Bandung, he currently plans to open a bar called L’Societe, This specific brand new Year’s Eve. His recently opened pastry shop, Prenkis, aims to introduce French tarts in addition to pies to the Indonesian market in addition to Simon also uses fresh Maluku spices in his cooking. “Many snacks around Indonesia use monosodium glutamate (MSG), which rounds the flavours in addition to makes everything taste the same. We are not using This specific, only the real flavour of the products in addition to nutmeg enhances the flavour of our quiches.”
A favorite Christmas beverage through America in addition to Canada, which also uses nutmeg, is actually eggnog – made through milk, eggs in addition to liquor, often garnished with cinnamon or nutmeg. However, nutmeg is actually in fact native to the Banda islands, in addition to in England, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, of which was thought of which nutmeg could hold off the plague; as the spices trickled through England, Queen Elizabeth I ordered the first gingerbread figures to be made inside likeness of her important guests. Ginger is actually native to Southeastern Asia in addition to is actually easy to find at local Indonesian markets. Most gingerbread recipes suggest using ground ginger, yet Christmas recipes using fresh ginger in addition to shredded coconut are easy to find online.
Although cinnamon (kayu manis) originates through Sri Lanka; historically of which was cultivated in Java in addition to Sumatra in addition to was later cultivated by the Dutch. currently cinnamon sticks are easy to find inside market in addition to are popularly used in Javanese beverages. Cinnamon is actually an ingredient in many Christmas treats, including fruit cakes, mince pies in addition to Christmas pudding (which can also be infused with mace in addition to nutmeg).
Yet cloves originate through the Spice Islands in addition to after the Spanish returned through their round-the-world trip, the Italian explorer Antonio Pigafetta published his journal of the expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan. Here, Antonio describes Maluku, “No cloves are grown inside globe except inside several mountains of those several islands. Almost every day we saw a mist descend in addition to encircle currently one in addition to currently another of those mountains, on account of which those cloves become perfect. Each of those people possesses clove trees, in addition to each one watches over his own trees although he does not cultivate them. Some nutmeg trees are found in of which island: the tree resembles our walnut tree, in addition to has leaves like of which.”
The historian David Snowden recently compiled a list of recipes used inside Medieval era by the monks of Evesham Abbey in England, which were surprisingly rich in spices (demonstrating the Abbey’s wealth) in addition to a recipe was found for nutmeg cookies.
At Christmas in Maluku, cloves are used to flavour the Dutch-Indonesian fusion dish – Brenebon. Red kidney beans with pork in addition to beef are prepared in a soup with cloves, chilli in addition to nutmeg in addition to the taste is actually said to be flavoursome. The word Brenebon derives through the Dutch words bruine (brown) in addition to bonen (beans) in addition to inside original Dutch variation of the dish (known as bruine bonensoep or brown bean soup), brown or pinto beans are infused with cloves.
The spices provide the perfect opportunity to cook some traditional, slow food with fresh, local ingredients. As chef Simon Baudoin says, “Nowadays of which’s easy to find these spices in supermakets in France, yet nothing beats the fresh quality here inside pasar.”
Further Information
Antonio Pigafetta, The First Voyage Around the globe, 1519-1522: An Account of Magellan’s Expedition (2007) University of Toronto Press
History of the spice trade: http://jakartaexpat.biz/history/of-spice-in addition to-profit/
The Ristorante Torre: http://www.ristorantetorrecelle.of which/
Prenkis pastry shop (orders in addition to deliveries): happyprenkis@gmail.com
Slow Food: http://www.slowfoodfoundation.com/
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The Christmas Spices of Indonesia
The Christmas Spices of Indonesia